Computer displays are getting larger, and it is becoming easier and more common to build large displays from multiple monitors. Though many computing systems support such large displays, they fail to adequately address some of the problems that occur in the large display environment. For example, it may be hard and time consuming to find the pointer (e.g., cursor) on a large display. Prior attempts to help the user find the pointer include temporarily displaying a circle around the pointer in response to a hotkey or displaying a pair of eyes that change direction with the movement of the pointer so that the eyes always look at the pointer. Both of these solutions do not adequately address the large display issues. First, the circle around the pointer may not be big enough and may not be provided at the appropriate times. Second, the eyes that look at the cursor may not be big enough and only point in the direction of the cursor. A user must still search for the cursor in the direction pointed to by the eyes. For a small display, this may be sufficient. For a large display, the distance of the pointer from the eyes may be too large so that the eyes are not effectively helping the user quickly and easily find the pointer.
Another issue with large displays is that moving the pointer across large distances can be time consuming and physically taxing on the user. For example, moving a pointer across many monitors may require a lot of physical movement of a mouse.
A large display may also facilitate cooperative scenarios where multiple users are sharing a single large display. In one example, two or more users each using their own pointing device can control a single pointer on a large display. Any user at any time can move the pointer. In such a scenario, the users may lose track of where the pointer is at any given time.